Title 13AState Board of EducationSubtitile 04 Specific SubjectsChapter 05 Education That Is Multicultural

According to state law, the actual Education That Is Multicultural (ETM) Regulations can not be published on this website. However, the Regulations are available at public libraries. Local school systems also have the Regulations. Since presentation here is forbidden, a brief summary of cogent points of the Regulations is provided below.

The administrative history of these Regulations dates back to 1970. Since then, the Regulations have been revised periodically. The Regulations were last amended in 1994.

Currently the Maryland State Board of Education is considering additional revisions to the language in the Regulations. These amendments are based on recommendations from the Maryland State Education That Is Multicultural Advisory Council. The recommended changes are listed in the report Minority Achievement in Maryland: the State of the State. Moreover, these revisions will serve to close the semantic gap and clarify the relationship between ETM and minority achievement.

The Regulations are intended to guarantee success for Maryland’s students by pursuing equity and quality in education. The Regulations provide guidelines for education that is multicultural. These guidelines establish goals for that impact curriculum, instruction, professional development, and educational resources.

The Regulations refer to education that is multicultural as a "continuous, integrated, multiethnic, multidisciplinary process for educating all students about diversity and commonality." Diversity factors mentioned in the Regulations include race, ethnicity, gender, religion, language, socioeconomic status, region, disabilities, and age. By infusing curriculum and instruction with tenets and strategies related to education that is multicultural, the goal is to prepare students to lead successful lives and better participate in a globally oriented society.

The Regulations direct schools throughout the state to implement programs and staff development that will enhance instruction pertinent to the above. In turn students should become involved not just by acquiring knowledge about diversity, but by participating in processes that require students to exhibit understanding and appreciation of other cultures as well an ability to participate in processes such as decision making related to social relations and interactions among diverse groups.

The Regulations further provide goals and guidelines to aid local school systems in devising, planning, implementing, and assessing their systemic efforts related to education that is multicultural. Areas addressed in the guidelines include curriculum, instruction, and staff development. The guidelines and goals explicitly state topics, strategies, and activities that should be addressed in incorporating ETM in students’ education. In addition, the Regulation provides criteria for the selection and use of instructional materials and resources to appropriately reflect ETM.

The Regulation asserts that local school systems should implement ETM based on five year planning cycles. Under this section of the Regulation, school systems are directed to develop and conduct needs assessments to obtain information on the status of aspects related to diversity and ETM from parents, business, community, students, and educational staff. School systems also have to prepare and submit annual progress reports on the implementation of ETM. The Maryland State Department of Education is responsible for evaluating progress of implementation of ETM in each school system. Additionally, MSDE has to provide appropriate technical assistance related to development and implementation of ETM to local school systems